God’s Promise and Warning

1Now it came about when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the king’s house, and all [a]that Solomon desired to do, 2that the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3And the LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea which you have offered before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built, by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there [b]always. 4As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and honesty, acting in accordance with everything that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My ordinances, 5then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I [c]promised to your father David, saying, ‘[d]You shall not be deprived of a man on the throne of Israel.’

6“But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have placed before you, but you go and serve other gods and worship them, 7then I will cut Israel off from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will [e]expel from My sight. So Israel will become a saying and an object of derision among all peoples. 8And this house will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by it will be appalled and [f]hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and this house?’ 9And they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and they [g]adopted other gods and worshiped and served them, for that reason the LORD has brought all this adversity on them.’”

Cities Given to Hiram

10Now it came about at the end of twenty years in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD and the king’s house 11(Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and juniper timber and gold, [h]satisfying all his desire), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12So Hiram left Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they [i]did not please him. 13And he said, “What are these cities which you have given me, my brother?” So [j]they have been called the land of [k]Cabul to this day. 14And Hiram sent to the king [l]120 talents of gold.

15Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon conscripted to build the house of the LORD, his own house, the [m]Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and overthrown Gezer and burned it with fire, and killed the Canaanites who lived in the city; and he had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. 17So Solomon rebuilt Gezer and the lower Beth-horon, 18and Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, 19and all the storage cities which Solomon had, that is, the cities for [n]his chariots and the cities for [o]his horsemen, and [p]everything that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land [q]under his rule. 20As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the sons of Israel, 21their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel were unable to completely eliminate, from them Solomon conscripted forced laborers, as they are to this day. 22But Solomon did not make slaves of the sons of Israel; for they were men of war, his servants, his commanders, his charioteers, his chariot commanders, and his horsemen.

23These were the [r]chief officers who were in charge of Solomon’s work, 550, who ruled over the people doing the work.

24As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the city of David to her house which Solomon had built for her, he then built the Millo.

25Now three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he had built for the LORD, burning incense with them on the altar which was before the LORD. So he finished the house.

26King Solomon also built a fleet of ships in Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the [s]Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27And Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, sailors who knew the sea, along with the servants of Solomon. 28And they went to Ophir and received [t]420 talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

[a] 1 Lit Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do
[b] 3 Lit all the days
[c] 5 Lit spoke
[d] 5 Lit There shall not be cut off to you a man
[e] 7 Lit send
[f] 8 Or whistle
[g] 9 Lit laid hold of
[h] 11 Lit to all
[i] 12 Lit were not right in his sight
[j] 13 Lit he called them
[k] 13 I.e., like nothing
[l] 14 About 4.5 tons or 4 metric tons
[m] 15 I.e., terraced structure
[n] 19 Lit the
[o] 19 Lit the
[p] 19 Lit the desire of Solomon which he desired to build in Jerusalem
[q] 19 Lit of
[r] 23 Or officers of the deputies
[s] 26 Lit Sea of Reeds
[t] 28 About 16 tons or 14 metric tons